Baby's cry carries to Kuwait

So the baby boy timed his first appearance in the world so that 20-year-old Gregory, an Army specialist stationed more than half a world away, could be there.
At least by telephone.
It all started at 7 a.m. Friday, when

Leila Stepankiw
, 37, was taken to
New Milford Hospital
's birthing center for a planned inducement of labor.
She had been there only a few hours when she got a call from Gregory in Kuwait.
"My stepson called at 11 o'clock that morning. I told him, 'You're jumping the gun, buddy, it doesn't happen that fast,'" Leila said. "I told him to try back a little later."
Luckily, Cooper's big brother did try back later.
"Things started going slowly until about 1 p.m., then things started to go into hyper drive," said proud father

Ted Stepankiw
, 48. Both he and Dr.
Paul Krieger
dressed in scrubs to help with the delivery.
"The doctor told me to push and a nurse came in and said 'You've got a call from Kuwait!'" Leila Stepankiw said. "The doctor told her to tell him to wait five minutes."
While Gregory waited, little Cooper Allen made his debut, at 22 inches long and 8 pounds, 13 ounces.
"I was on the phone with my son in Kuwait with him in my arms," Ted Stepankiw said, motioning toward his new son. "I said, 'Say hello to your big brother,' and he (the baby) wailed."--photo1L--

Ted Stepankiw also has a 17-year-old daughter, Melissa, from a previous marriage. He and Leila have a 3½-year-old daughter, Skylar, whose fourth birthday is on April Fool's Day. They joke that they wanted Cooper to be born on Leap Day, Feb. 29.

Their timing was slightly off from that goal, but Gregory's was perfect.

Spc.
Gregory Stepankiw
has been stationed in Iraq since April 2003. Just two weeks ago, he was moved to Kuwait.

He joined the Army after graduating from
Bethel High School
in 2001. He had his share of teenage problems, Ted Stepankiw said, and the family thought it best for Gregory to join the service. He was planning to enlist as the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks occurred, but a paperwork loss delayed his entry until Nov. 1.

Gregory is a tank mechanic based in Fort Hood, Texas. In Kuwait, he is preparing vehicles to be shipped back to the states.

His father checks the news reports every day, keeping up on the latest news from the Persian Gulf.

"It's stressful. You're there looking up things on the Internet to see what's going on," he said.

Holding her new son, Leila Stepankiw echoed the sentiment.

"It's frightening. Every time you hear something, you check to see where it happened," she said.

Once Gregory leaves the service this fall, Ted Stepankiw said he plans to attend college and study architectural engineering. His family hopes he will be coming home by the end of this month or early April. For now though, the half dozen pictures the family has e-mailed to him will have to do.

He was home in late January, and the Stepankiws noticed a difference in his demeanor.

"He's definitely had his experience," Ted said. "He's truly had a quantum leap from teen to adult."

Leila Stepankiw agreed that life in the Middle Eastern war zone has made her stepson grow exponentially as a person.

"It's worked out well for him," Leila said. "He's turned into a pretty incredible little man."

But, like all older siblings, Gregory had his preference for what gender he wanted the new baby to be.

"Greg was so pumped that we were going to have a boy," Leila said. "He wanted it to be two boys and two girls. He didn't want to be ganged up on by a bunch of girls."